Red Army

Gabe Polsky, an American of Russian descent, has made a documentary about the great Soviet Red Army hockey team of the 1970s and ’80s. The players formed a tight, supportive unit, which meant a hard adjustment when some went to the rough-and-tumble NHL during glasnost.

It’s a film with a villain: coach Viktor Tikhonov, so ruthless he refused to let one player leave the training center to visit his dying father. And the hero is Viachaslav “Slava” Fetisov, the gifted former team captain. Mercurial and combative, Fetisov mocks Polsky’s questions, goes grimly silent when the 1980 Olympic loss to the Americans is brought up, and checks his phone on-camera when he gets bored.

The Soviet era is more interesting than the NHL years, but still, the film is entertaining even for ardent nonfans.